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Preparatory study of partial torso of a seated man holding spectacles in left hand for the Portrait of Lord John "Jock" Cameron

Artist: Gillies, William George, Sir, CBE RA RSA PPRSW · 1898-1973

"..In the 1960s, after Gillies' retirement as Principal of Edinburgh College of Art [which took place at the end of the 1966/67 session] he was prevailed upon to accept a commission from the University of Edinburgh to paint a portrait of Lord Cameron. Gillies was always loathe to accept commissions and generally managed to avoid them, even when he was asked by friends. Neither he nor Lord Cameron were happy with his efforts, which he fretted over for some time, making many preparatory drawings and several attempts at the painting. Eventually Alberto Morrocco, then head of Drawing and Painting at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art in Dundee, was commissioned to paint the portrait, which was finished in 1974, the year after Gillies' death." Morrocco's oil, 127 x 122 cm, shows the sitter full length, seated in a black jacket but wearing the same waistcoat and blue tie, with a dramatic orange red drape over the back of the armchair against a flat black background. It is dated to 1975 by the BBC Your Paintings website, acc no EU0096